Sharing a love of Dolls House Miniatures - and making time for other creative crafts and the garden.

Monday, May 15, 2017

DISASTER......and now to drain the pond!

Way back in 2012 I created a little 1/12th scale pond - full of 'water' with a perky frog, some cheerful birds and detailed landscaping around the edge - that I was really pleased with. I hadn't looked at it for ages...and ages....
Then I did.


So here is the pond back in the day.
Click on the pics to enlarge.


And last week I discovered that the 'water', i.e. 'Scenic Water' had shrunk away from the edges and looked like an unpleasant, lumpy, discoloured, gelatinous mess.


I don't mean to rubbish a very popular product, because maybe I missed sealing a tiny spot on the pond lining which was made from air-drying clay....has anyone got any ideas or had the same problem?  Anyway I was not happy. There seemed nothing for it but to dig out the yucky, rubbery mess which wasn't easy, to say the least, together with paper leaves etc. that partially disintegrated as I did so.

So here's the problem. I had a pond with no water, and although I have some more of the product I'm afraid to use it again. I decide I shall fall back on a tried and tested alternative that I introduced in the Nostalgia In Miniature Workshops Celia Thomas and I ran. It looks very effective and is such a simple method that works brilliantly in small water features - not quite so easy when it means trying to put it into an irregularly shaped, fully finished pond.

1. Cut a piece of clear acrylic - used in all sorts of common packaging - that fits just below the rim of your container. It helps to cut a paper template first. (Not that it helped me this time)  If you are adding rushes or plants at the edge, snip away a small portion so that these can be dropped through.

2. Run a thin line of tacky glue around the inside of the container and drop in the plastic. Run a thin line of glue around the edge on the plastic to secure. Leave to dry.

3. Glue in place any plants, stones or creatures, and using a Fine Tip Applicator swirl tacky glue in ripples. Leave to dry. In a day or two the ripples will be clear.

This is what works so well with a simple container!


So I did all that and it was a proper fiddle as I couldn't get the exact shape, and had to push and shove it around the existing plants and twigs and fill in gaps with extra reeds, stones and weeds. What a palaver!


Anyway - it's done - I don't like it as much as the original as the planting is a bit 'busy',  but it's 'O.K'.

Thank you for looking
Robin

2 comments:

PILAR6373 said...

A mi me pasó una vez,en un pequeño estanque,creo que en espacios tan pequeños,en los que no cabe mucho producto,tiende a evaporarse.Desde ése día,lo que hago,es darle primero una buena capa de barniz cerámico antes de añadir el scenic water.
De todas formas,has hecho un trabajo precioso!!!
Besos.

Robin said...

Thank you Pillar - if I try it again, I'll take your advice.
Rx